Women to soon fight in UFC

ABS-CBN News

Rousey to topbill women’s division

MANILA, Philippines – Women’s mixed martial arts (MMA) will soon make its way to Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), according to UFC president Dana White.

White will be tapping rising star Ronda Rousey to be the first female fighter in the UFC.

White, who used to oppose women's MMA, said he is now convinced that they will have to add a women’s division into the UFC brand after seeing Rousey beat Meisha Tate in Strikeforce.

The UFC president said they will wait for Rousey to fulfill her contract with Strikeforce first before transferring her to UFC.

"I've been saying for months that this was absolutely going to happen. I don't know when it's going to be, because [Rousey] is under contract. We don't have the timing figured out yet. It could be a year, year-and-a-half, but I'm [in support of it]. It's going to happen," White said in Yahoo! Sports.

White said he earlier objected women’s MMA because of the lack of quality fighters.

However, he now considers Tate, Sara McMann and Cris "Cyborg" Santos as first-rate fighters.

But Rousey remains on top of the list, said White.

“Ronda is a whole other story. She's nasty. She's a real fighter. She not only likes to win, she likes to finish. Think about this: Everyone she fights knows what is coming, that armbar of hers, and no one can stop it. They have a whole [expletive] training camp to prepare for that one move and nobody has been able to stop it yet,” he said.